00:00hey friends there is a story spreading online like wildfire and it's related to an old catholic prophecy predicting there
00:09would only be one hundred and twelve popes
00:12now many of you have reached out sent me notes asked questions you know and some people believe pope francis
00:19was the last pope on that list and that his death started a countdown toward the events described in revelation
00:26that sounds frightening but i can assure you there is no reason to panic the prediction is commonly called the
00:36prophecy of the popes it's sometimes credited to saint malachi a catholic archbishop who lived during the eleven hundreds however
00:45the prophecy did not become publicly known until more than 400 years after saint malachi died
00:53there is no strong evidence that he actually even wrote it many historians believe it was created much later and
01:02then falsely connected to his name
01:05now the number 112 is often misunderstood pope francis was not the 112th pope in catholic history
01:15he was officially the 266th pope the current pope pope leo is the 267th that the number 112 only refers
01:28to the number of short descriptions found in the disputed prophecy
01:32people have tried to connect those descriptions with different popes but many of the connections are vague and require a
01:40great deal of interpretation
01:42when a prediction does not come true exactly as people expected have you ever noticed that people often change the
01:52interpretation
01:53you see some now say pope francis did not end the papacy he simply started a prophetic clock
02:00others are trying to connect the current pope with this final prediction
02:05that is one reason we should be very careful with vague prophecies they can be changed to fit almost any
02:14event
02:14more importantly the bible never says that the number of popes will tell us when revelation begins
02:23you see jesus spoke clearly about attempts to predict the exact timing of the end
02:29in matthew 24 verse 36 jesus said but about the day or hour no one knows
02:38not even the angels in heaven nor the sun but only the father and jesus gave the same message in
02:48mark 13
02:49verse 32 now in acts 1 verse 7 the disciples actually asked jesus about god's future timetable
02:57and jesus told them it is not for you to know the times or dates the father is set by
03:05his own authority
03:06now those words should immediately bring us back to reality whenever someone claims to have discovered
03:13a secret countdown if jesus told his own disciples that the timing belonged to the father
03:20we should be careful when someone online or on a street corner claims to know more because of a mysterious
03:28document a number a dream or a video you see as christians we do believe that jesus will return
03:37but that does not mean we know the exact date the exact year exact pope or the exact secret sequence
03:46of events
03:47you see jesus told his followers to be ready but readiness does not mean living in fear
03:54being ready means trusting him it means loving god and loving other people
04:00it means forgiving praying helping those in need turning away from sin and living faithfully today
04:10you see jesus did not tell us to spend our lives trying to crack a secret code he told us
04:18to follow him
04:19there is also an important lesson in this conspiracy theory that i want you to think about
04:25you know people often search for secret knowledge because they want to feel safe we believe that if we
04:33can figure out exactly what will happen we will be able to control the future
04:40but jesus well jesus offers us something better than control he offers us his presence
04:49our peace does not come from knowing everything that will happen tomorrow our peace comes from knowing
04:56that jesus will still be with us tomorrow in john 14 jesus told his followers not to
05:03let their hearts be troubled he told them to trust god and to trust him jesus did not promise
05:11that life would never become difficult he promised that his followers would not face life alone
05:19so no there's no solid reason to believe pope francis's death started a revelation countdown
05:28the prophecy is historically doubtful the number of popes is being misunderstood and the bible
05:36well the bible never connects the death of a pope with the beginning of revelation and jesus said that
05:44only the father knows the exact time you do not need to be afraid jesus loves his people
05:54he came for the worried the confused the ashamed the lonely and the frightened he does not want you
06:01living in constant panic because of rumors on the internet you do not need to understand an old latin
06:09prophecy to be loved by jesus you do not need to identify the final pope you do not need to
06:18solve
06:19every mystery and revelation before you can sleep peacefully at night the future belongs to god
06:27and your job is to trust jesus love people and live faithfully today so my friends take a breath
06:38jesus has not abandoned us he still loves you and whatever the future holds you can place your life in
06:46his hands
06:49my name is douglas vandergraaf and i believe in jesus christ god bless every single one of you
06:58every single one
07:02bye
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